Welcome to the "Frog," my little piece of cyberspace to talk about my passion - le foot (or soccer for my North American friends) especially anything around French football. Of course I will have some guest contributors that might want to discuss other aspects of footy!
I support Les Bleus, Arsenal and PSG but really just love watching, analyzing and following the beautiful game.
"You have to trust your teammates, always. If not we are lost."
Sigh, poor Rafa, he is the poor man of England without sufficient funds at Liverpool. Someone please get me a tissue so I can wipe my tears away. Clearly the Spaniard is setting up his exit this summer whether he leaves on his own or gets canned. Maybe Rafa needs to do some self reflecting before he starts whining about his "lack of funds." Granted
Hicks and Gillett have done a mockery of owning this side, gambling on being able to secure a new stadium, leveraging the club to repay their debts and overall underestimating the blind loyalty of the fan base. Unlike owning the Texas Rangers or the Dallas Stars, owning a club like Liverpool carries a very steep history that is ingrained in the fan base - a fan base that is much more sensitive to every action you take and is less forgiving if it perceives your actions to be focused on lining your own pockets with cash rather than winning silverware.
But Rafa, once again, cannot hide behind these two bumbling owners for he is also to blame. Ryan Babel for 11m pounds? Robbie Keane? Aquilani? Kuyt? Not having sufficient strikers last season. Relying entirely on Gerrard and Torres for all your scoring. The list goes on. As I have stated before, were it not for 15 crazy minutes in the Champions League finals, Rafa would have been shown the door years ago. I will not shed a tear that Liverpool has wasted away seasons under the Spanish "genius" but the Reds' fans deserve a gaffer that can give them a better chance rather than spending his time whining about no funds and any other excuse he can muster to cover his poor performances.
A great blog post about the future of Laurent Blanc and where he ends up managing. Clearly his star only shines brighter as his club has progressed in the Champions League and should content for another Ligue 1 title. Blanc has also demonstrated an ability to recruit and put together the proper formation - getting Gourcuff from Milan being his biggest prize.
I agree with the post that Blanc will be a highly sought after manager, and probably sooner rather than later. The rumors of him heading to Manchester United are interesting, he did play there and apparently has a good relationship with SAF. Clearly he could give Manchester United a young manager with the world of potential ahead of him. I would also think the Devil's hated rivals Liverpool might be interested at looking at the former France libero. However I think that Blanc would be hard pressed to go to that mad house and have to clean up the mess Rafa has created. Of course the French National team has also been rumored as a landing spot. Bordeaux had even stated they would allow Blanc to pull a Hiddink and manage both Bordeaux and France for a short time. So what might happen with one of Europe's hot coaching commodities?
One club I would argue might be a landing spot is Arsenal. Why? Wenger is not going to be there forever. I could see him moving upstairs to player development and overall club business while he allows his countryman to come in and assume the day to day coaching and managing. I think that Manchester United will go for a bigger name to replace SAF - Mourinho being the biggest.
I think that Liverpool will come to Bordeaux to sniff around but in the end might look for someone with Liverpool pedigree...how about this one - Steve Nicol from the New England Revolution. I am sure Glazer has some relationships with the Kraft family and can find a way to get the former Liverpool player to come manage his former club. Nicol has clearly done everything he can in the MLS...well almost everything. He understands how to get strong players and get the most out of them. I could not imagine him not wanting to take a shot with Liverpool. I would be hard pressed to hear strong rumblings from the Red's faithful based on what he did for the club in the 80s.
So does that mean Blanc will be next in line for France? It makes a lot of sense, however I cannot see that happening until after the World Cup...which might be too late for Les Bleus. Sigh, too bad the FFF have no back bone, they should sack Domenech now and bring in the Bordeaux manager!!
